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The sacred theory of the earth. Containing an account of the original of the earth, and of all the general changes which it hath already undergone, or is to undergo, till the consummation of all things ... / [Thomas Burnet].

  • Burnet, Thomas, Sir, 1632?-1715?
Date:
1719
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The sacred theory of the earth. Containing an account of the original of the earth, and of all the general changes which it hath already undergone, or is to undergo, till the consummation of all things ... / [Thomas Burnet]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    expert New Heavens and a New Earth upon the diffolution ofthefe: Better in allrefpe£ts, more commodious and more beautiful. And the feveral perfections of the Divine Nature, Wifdom, Power, Goodnefs, Juftice, Sandity, cannot be fo well difplay’d and exemplified in any one fingle ftate of Nature, as in a fucceffi- an of States: fitted to receive one another ac¬ cording to the difpofitions of the Moral World, and the order of Divine Providence. Where¬ fore Tlato\ argument from the Divine Attri¬ butes, all things confider’d, doth rather prove a fucceffion of Worlds, than that one fingle World fljould remain the fame throughout all ages, without change or variation. Next to the Tlatomfisj the Stoicks were moft confi- derabie in matters relating to Morality and Providence : And their opinion, in this cafe, is well known; they being iookt upon by the Mo¬ derns, as the principal Authors of the doCtrine of the Conflagration. Nor is it lefs known that the School of Democritus and Eficurus made ail their Worlds fubjefl: to diffolution; and by a new concourfe of Atoms reftor’d them again. Daftly, The lonick Philophers, who had Thales for their Mafter, and were the firft Naturalifts amongft the Greeks, taught the fame doftrine. We have indeed but an imperfect account left us of this Se£t, and ftis great pity ; for as it was one of the moft ancient, fo it feems to have been one of the moft confiderable amongft: the Greeks for Natural Philofophy. In thofe remains which ‘Diogenes Laertius hath pre- lerv’d, of eAnaxagoras, e4uaximenesy Hrchc- laws7